BRECKENRIDGE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ARTS – Adventure + Creativity + Play 2022
Breckenridge Creative Arts presents – BRECKENRIDGE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ARTS ADVENTURE + CREATIVITY + PLAY AUGUST 12 – 21, 2022
BreckCreate is thrilled to announce the triumphant return of the Breckenridge International Festival of Arts aka BIFA, beginning this Friday, August 12th and running through Sunday, August 21st, 2022 and is proudly presented by Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate.
BIFA remains a celebration of adventure, creativity and play. From on-trail environmental art installations to the inspired emergence of the Revolution Music Series in partnership with the National Repertory Orchestra (NRO). Like previous years BIFA offers an exhilarating program of extraordinary talent in amazing and unique spaces across Breckenridge, Colorado.
“BIFA continues to be a nexus of arts, ideas and people, the uniqueness of BIFA, which is this interactive, largely outdoor festival, reflects the uniqueness of Breckenridge while underscoring the importance of environmental sustainability, an issue of incredible relevance to our community.”
Tamara Nuzzaci Park, president/CEO of Breckenridge Creative Arts.
Inspired by themes of environment and mountain culture, the 10-day festival brings together a variety of performances, exhibitions, screenings, workshops, talks and surprise collaborations, with an eclectic mix of music, dance, film, visual arts and family entertainment. Dozens of scheduled events, indoors and outdoors, ticketed and free, are showcased at venues and sites throughout Breckenridge.
To see a daily calendar of events head here: www.breckcreate.org/calendar/
PILOBOLUS: BIFA ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE
Internationally renowned movement company Pilobolus is in residence for the 10-day festival, and there will be several opportunities to experience their remarkable and iconic performances. On August 12th and 13th, Pilobolus UP! The Umbrella Project unfolds across the Riverwalk Center Lawn; audience members can view the interactive installation for free. The group also will lead four free movement workshops on the Riverwalk Center Lawn. Pilobolus collaborates with the Revolution Music Series for a performance on Friday, August 19th. Finally, in celebration of the organization’s 50th anniversary, they perform BIG FIVE-OH!, a ticketed show, at the Riverwalk Center on Saturday, August 20th.
For this 50th anniversary celebration, Pilobolus questions its own “givens,” turns its traditions sideways, and brings its past into the future. As fresh and vibrant as ever, Pilobolus –that feisty arts organism– puts the “Oh!” in BIG FIVE OH!, and continues to morph its way thrillingly into audiences’ hearts and minds.
The celebration includes signature works from vintage classics to their trend setting innovative work in shadow.
REVOLUTION MUSIC SERIES
The Revolution Music Series (RMS) brings the partnership between BreckCreate and the NRO to new heights. This co-presented series combines the expertise of both organizations to bring residents and visitors the highest quality artists and performances the world has to offer while cultivating emerging talent and providing a place for expression in the heart of Breckenridge.
The RMS as led by Artistic Director and Conductor Steven Schick, not only features an ensemble of 12 professional musicians drawn from the former Breckenridge Music Festival (BMF) and select NRO fellows, but also multidisciplinary and genre-defying guest artists and composers. Each concert is a sensory adventure: programs pair contemporary music with multi-media art, dance, storytelling and traditional classical compositions. The 2022 “Revolution Series” features the Pilobolus Dance Company—celebrating their 50th anniversary—the kinetic sculptor Daniel Rozin, the charismatic early music violinist Aisslinn Nosky, the Israeli-American composer Tamar Muskal and video artist Jonathan Gilmer to create multi-sensory experiences in contemporary music, dance, storytelling and traditional classical compositions.
Below is a list of this season’s Revolution Music Series performances. All performances are at the Riverwalk Center at 6 p.m. All performances co-presented with the NRO.
Wednesday, August 10
BIFA Preview: Stravinsky + Ravel – More Info + Buy Tickets Steven Schick, conductor
Hamza Able, timpani
Stravinsky: Symphonies of Wind Instruments Kraft: Timpani Concerto No. 1
Dessner: Lachrymae
Ravel: Mother Goose, Suite
Friday, August 12
Reflections by Moonlight, Bach: Concerto for Violin and Oboe – More Info + Register
Reflections by Moonlight
Bach: Concerto for Violin and Oboe (BVW 1060r)
Featuring violinist and early music specialist, Aisslinn Nosky Esmail: The Light is the Same for Wind Quintet
Kapuscinksi: Over for String Quartet + Video
Muskal: Facing the Automaton
Featuring art installation Wooden Mirror by Daniel Rozin
Updating the idea of the concerto, the performance will begin with a classic—Bach’s elegant Concerto for Violin and Oboe, featuring guest artist and early music Roshi, Aisslinn Nosky.
Reena Esmail’s The Light is the Same for Woodwind Quintet and Jareslav Kapuscinksi’s Over for string quartet and video draw inspiration from the natural world. Concluding the evening is another provocative double concerto—this time for percussionist and mechanical mirror. Looking in the mirror will never be the same after you have seen Daniel Rozin’s extraordinary wooden mirror in duo conversation with percussion soloist Schick and the nine-person chamber ensemble.
Wednesday, August 17
Soldiers’ Tales, Stravinsky: Suite from L’Histoire du Soldat – More Info + Register
Soldiers’ Tales
Stravinsky: Suite from L’Histoire du Soldat
Featuring text created by Steven Schick and interpolated with music by Mazzoli, Dowland, Debussy, Barber + Messiaen
An update on Igor Stravinsky’s classic work, Histoire du Soldat, which was composed during World War I on a text about a soldier who trades his soul to the devil. Themes of war, greed, and power are, regrettably, still timely today. By interspersing the movements of Stravinsky’s piece with the music of wartime composers (Messiaen, Barber and Debussy among others) along with a new text by Schick that incorporates women’s wartime poetry, we offer a beautiful and haunting collage of music and words in a new view of our oldest dilemma.
Friday, August 19
By Starlight, HIF Biber: Battaglia à 10 – More Info + Register By Starlight
HIF Biber: Battaglia à 10
Higdon: Zaka
Littlebird/Wolpert: When Echoes Speak
Featuring Leon Joseph Littlebird and Pilobolus
Colorado Premiere Commissioned by Brenda + Steven Schick
Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps (Chamber version) Featuring Video by Jonathan Gilmer
After Aisslin Nosky leads us in Biber’s muscular Battaglia a 10 (Battle for 10) the group of NRO fellows offers Jennifer Higdon’s high-octane Stravinskyian romp, Zaka, a word that means simultaneously zap and sprint. Pilobolus joins the musicians in a choreographed performance of When Echoes Speak, a celebration of Native story-telling and culture featuring our great friend Leon Joseph Littlebird. When Echoes Speak is the 2022 “Brenda and Steven Schick Commission” for a work rooted in social or environmental optimism. The concert concludes the Revolution concert series with the ultimate ballet, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, this time in chamber version for 12 players accompanied by a video from the visual artist Jonathan Gilmer.
ART INSTALLATIONS + EXHIBITIONS
Visual art that asks the viewer to consider environmental themes and issues continues to be a pillar of BIFA. In 2022, BIFA features thought-provoking exhibitions and installations throughout Breckenridge.
We Are the Asteroid by Justin Brice | Aug 12 – 21
On View Daily Throughout Breckenridge | FREE
We Are the Asteroid is a series of conceptual, text-based public artworks by artist Justin Brice. The sandblasted solar-powered LED highway message board loops six ecological aphorisms written for Brice by eco philosopher Timothy Morton. The board flashes surprising poetry, metaphor and humor to challenge viewers to think ecologically while breaking down barriers to stimulate conversations about the environment. This project is made possible by a grant from Science Rising and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Tag #WEARETHEASTEROID
Instagram @justinbriceguariglia | Twitter @xjbgx
Altered Ground by Steve Hilton | Aug 12 – 28
On View Daily at Old Masonic Hall | FREE
Clay artist and geologist Steve Hilton investigates anomalies in the Earth’s surface through large-scale, process-based installations. Altered Ground uses unfired clay marbles to create an undulating topography that functions simultaneously as abstract sculpture and as a microcosm of Breckenridge’s extractive history. Collectively, the marbles produce a landscape reminiscent of mine tailings, mountains, rivers and other geologic features altered by resource extraction. An ongoing artwork, visitors are encouraged to roll marbles and add them to the composition. The title refers to both the visible and invisible results of climate change, natural resource depletion, water pollution and habitat destruction, while the cumulative art-making process references the need for collective action in addressing environmental issues.
Reflections by Daniel Rozin | Aug 12 – Sep 4
On View Daily at Old Masonic Hall | FREE
Daniel Rozin’s interactive installations and sculptures integrate the viewer, in real time, to create a representation of the viewer’s likeness in the object. His kinetic “mirrors” are often made with materials that become unexpectedly “reflective,” responding to a person’s presence via a camera and physical computing or custom software. Reflection and surface transformation become a means to explore human behavior, representation and perception.
TRAIL MIX
The incredibly popular Trail Mix is back combining art and the outdoors by exhibiting contemporary artworks along the trails of Breckenridge.
Once Upon a Time in the Future by Calder Kamin| Aug 12 – 21 | On View Daily at the Moonstone Trail
Daddy Long Legs by Ben Roth| Aug 12 – 21 | On View Daily at the Iowa Hill Trail
Slow Beethoven by the Tank Center for Sonic Arts | Aug 16, 17, 18 from 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. at the
Illinois Creek Trail
SONIC MEDITATION
Aug 14 at 8 a.m. | Riverwalk Center stage | FREE
This class offers participants the rare opportunity to listen deeply and become a performer in Tuning Meditation by revolutionary composer Pauline Oliveros. Known as a women’s rights activist and pioneer of electronic music, Oliveros explored listening as a fully embodied pursuit through a collection of text-based compositions titled “Sonic Meditations.” Join internationally renowned percussionist and professor of contemporary music, Steven Schick, in this immersive sound and body experience on the Riverwalk Stage. No formal musical or meditation training required to participate! Produced in partnership with Meta Yoga and the National Repertory Orchestra. Suggested donation $10.00
TRANSIT MIX
Hop on the Breck Free Ride bus for more than just a sustainable ride to your BIFA adventure! BreckCreate proudly features beloved local singer-songwriters and buskers on the bus during the 10 days of BIFA. The Breck Free Ride helps you explore all that BIFA and Breckenridge have to offer, from Trail Mix to craft cocktails.
MAIN STREET TROLLEY
Serving Main Street + Downtown Breckenridge
Aug 12–21 | Daily Performances | 11am–1pm + 4–6pm
Explore Stops
(94/102) Gallery@OMH + BIFA Basecamp (9) Trail Mix @ Illinois Gulch | Isak Heartstone
GRAY ROUTE NORTHSIDE
Serving Airport Road
Aug 12–21 | Performances Fri–Sun | 9–11am
Explore Stops
(55) Ben Roth Trail Mix @Iowa Hill
KICK PUSH:
A Roll-In Movie Night
Co-Presented with Breck Film
Ridge Street Art Square @ E Washington Avenue + S Ridge Street Sun, Aug 21 | @ 6pm
FREE with Registration| Suggested Donation $10
Skate, scoot or ride to the Arts District campus for an outdoor screening of Mia and the Migoo off the AirStage. An event “geared” for families on the go, the movie is shown on an 8×5 foot LED wall underneath the spectacular 10-Mile Range and is accompanied by a bike decoration station and creative activities for all ages.
BASECAMP:
A Creative Gathering Place
Aug 12-21 | Daily
Ridge Street Square | Arts District Campus
BIFA invites everyone to take part in the artistic process through workshops, demonstrations, and artist talks for all ages. Visit Ridge Street Square to plan your festival experience beneath the spectacular 10-mile range and engage in kid-friendly creative activities. Basecamp will also include a display area that focuses on BreckCreate’s next artistic and environmental endeavor: Precious Plastic, a worldwide initiative that exists to reduce plastic waste through a combination of people, machines, platforms and knowledge.
BreckCreate’s participation in the Precious Plastic initiative will take the form of a “Mix Workspace,” where community members and visitors to Breckenridge can transform plastic waste into art.
In this workspace on the Arts District Campus, our team will collect clean, label-free #1, #2, #5, and #6 plastics from local businesses and community members. The plastic will then be shredded and sorted for use in BreckCreate classes and workshops, where patrons can learn how to create new objects from plastic waste using Precious Plastic equipment. For example, the plastic benches on display at Basecamp were created from the plastic sleds that litter popular sledding hills in Breckenridge at Carter Park and Airport Road; with the help of Wonderful Waste, the sleds were processed and transformed into something useful.
This event is brought to the community by Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate. For more in-depth information head to: www.breckcreate.org/BIFA/
~MTM
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